Chloe never wanted to be one of the guys anyway.

She wasn't even sure how she'd gotten the reputation. She was the furthest thing from tomboy and, if she really thought about it, didn't share that many interests with Pete and Clark anyway. They enjoyed making fun of each other and got along well enough to solve the occasional small town mystery. After a week of being ditched, avoided and lied to, she was beginning to think that was all they had in common.

Teenage infatuations that burn with the fire of a thousand suns aside.

And after a summer of sometimes twice-daily emails from Lana, ranging from friendly small talk to ridiculously suggestive innuendo indicating a virtual plethora of repressed sexual urges and blatant lesbian curiosity, Chloe was beginning to think that Lana Lang wasn't one of the guys either.

Lana Lang was just full of surprises.

Chloe could have rushed to the Talon after dinner and spent the next two hours watching Lana wipe down tables and froth milk from behind her new Entertainment Weekly (which she wouldn't read in public anyway), waiting for her to close up so they could start their Friday night escapades, but that just seemed...desperate. Clark-esque. And 'moping admirer a la distance' was the last image Chloe wanted to project.

Which was why, at closing time on Friday night, she was staring at her computer screen, listlessly scrolling down the Chicago Sun-Times' homepage. Mechanical clicks from her stereo's changer snapped her out of her daze for a moment before the opening techno beats of Madonna's "Holiday" lulled her back to boredom. It was the third time the stereo had cycled through the CD. Sighing, she checked her Buddy List one more time. "ClarkK05" and "MasterP" remained dormant. She signed off and stretched in her chair, arching her back inward and grinning in the indulgent satisfaction of hearing it crack.

"Ouch." Lana stood in the doorway, one hand on the knob, the other on the frame.

Lana. In a black t-shirt, faded boot-cut jeans and the red low-top Converse Chuck Taylors with Strawberry Shortcake laces Chloe loved and often borrowed. Hair up, keys jangling in the doorknob hand and probably smelling of coffee.

"Hey." Chloe smiled lazily, her eyes narrowing to slits as she straightened up.

"You shouldn't do that. You'll get arthritis." Lana walked across the room and flopped down on Chloe's bed. She peeled off her tan corduroy jacket and dropped her brown suede bag on the floor.

"It'll be worth it," Chloe said, twisting her torso to crack her back again. "What's up?"

Optimism rushed warm through Chloe's legs. Lana was off, Chloe was ready and ten o'clock Friday night opened its black, shining wings to possibility.

"Nothin'." Lana examined her fingernails. "We just closed. God, it was busy tonight. How come you didn't stop by?"

"I got caught up in something." Chloe nodded at the computer.

"Oh yeah?" Lana smiled. "What did you dig up on whom?"

"Nah," Chloe shook her head. "Nothing fun like that. I've been checking out summer internships at some other papers."

"Already? Chloe, it's only October."

"I know, but you have to apply early if you want a chance, which I probably don't have anyway. Hardly any of them hire high school interns."

"What about Lex?" Lana asked.

"I don't know," Chloe shrugged. "Have you noticed he only does stuff like this as a favor to Clark?"

"So ask Clark to ask him."

"That's the thing," Chloe began shutting down her computer. "I get the feeling he and Clark aren't exactly on a favor-asking basis anymore."

Lana opened her mouth. "You're kidding."

"I don't know." Chloe shrugged again. "Clark barely talks about him anymore. And now he and Pete are all Spin and Marty suddenly -"

"Yeah, what are they doing? Pete said they'd stop in too. Everybody's standing me up tonight," Lana fake-pouted.

"Aww, I'm sorry." Chloe spun her chair around and touched Lana's blue jean knee.

"I forgive you." Lana smiled wide. She pulled the band out of her hair and began raking her fingers through it. The dark, thick marker of female sexuality Chloe no longer hated herself for lacking. That she was able to admit she found pretty damn sexy herself.

"Anyway, they totally ditched me." Chloe dismissed them with a jerk of her wrist. "They're probably hanging out in their 'No Girls Allowed' clubhouse."

Chloe moved to the bed and lay down on her back, one foot on the floor, the top of her head just barely touching Lana's thigh.

"Boys are stupid," Lana said, softly smoothing Chloe's hair from her face.

"Mmm..." Chloe breathed. "That feels so...exactly. Stupid. Mmm..."

"You want a massage?" Lana asked.

Lana's hands on her body and it could be something more but it didn't have to be. They were friends now. Girlfriends, who touched and teased and winked and told secrets. Girlfriends, and the definition only got cloudier as they became closer and Chloe slowly discovered she really didn't care about keeping anything distinct when it came to Lana.

"Yyyyesss," Chloe closed her eyes and smiled. "Hard sell, aren't I?"

"Alright," Lana laughed quietly. She twisted her hair into a sloppy braid and repositioned herself so she sat cross-legged, facing Chloe. "Come here."

Chloe sat up just enough to rest her head in Lana's lap. Lana began at her neck, rubbing slow circles into the tight flesh and working her way up, smoothing her fingers in languid lines from Chloe's shoulders to the base of her head.

"Oh my god, Lana," Chloe murmured. "You are amaz - Oh, god..."

"People don't realize how important necks are," Lana said. "I mean, it has to hold your head up all day."

Chloe mumbled her agreement, sighing low, deep tones as Lana worked the week's stress out of her slim neck.

"Here, this looks weird but it feels really good." Lana placed her palms on Chloe's face and stretched the skin up toward her temples.

"Um..." Chloe giggled. "I'm sorry, that just - "

"Relax," Lana whispered. She pressed the tips of her fingers to the inside corners of Chloe's eyes and traced down the sides of her nose, over her upper lip and back up to her eyes.

Chloe sighed again, a tiny moan escaping on her breath.

"See?" Lana said. "I told you it feels good."

"Where did you learn this?" Chloe asked slowly.

"I used to have trouble sleeping," Lana began. "Nell did this to try to relax me. It became kind of like a bedtime routine."

"I will pay you to come do this to me every night," Chloe said solemnly. Lana laughed. "Come on, we'll make it our bedtime routine."

Lana's hands stopped for a moment; Chloe swore she felt them shake slightly. Then they were in her hair, massaging her scalp and making her shiver.

"I love this song," Lana said as 'Crazy for You' began playing. "I put this CD in when we're closing up sometimes. It's good music to mop to."

"It's a classic," Chloe mumbled.

She opened her eyes and looked up at Lana. Her face was turned down to meet Chloe's gaze and one strand of hair fell forward, half an inch from Chloe's forehead. Chloe caught it between her fingers for a second before reaching up to cup Lana's cheek in her hand.

"It's just comforting, you know?" Lana said. "To be touched."

"Yeah," Chloe nodded. She sat up and crossed her legs, mimicking Lana's position beside her on the bed.

"I like touching you, Chloe." Lana smiled and something dark flashed in her eyes as she picked up Chloe's hand and twined their fingers together.

"I - uh," Chloe faltered for a moment, but regained her confidence when she looked in Lana's eyes. "Like it. When you touch me."

"Well I guess we're lucky to be girls, then," Lana said, lying down on her side. Chloe followed her.

"Why?"

"Because whatever Clark and Pete are doing tonight, I guarantee you it's not this." Lana draped her arm over Chloe's hip and pulled her closer.

"Ah yes, a little reverse misogyny," Chloe said, trailing her fingers behind Lana's ear and around her neck. "I'm not sure how that works, exactly."

And 'not sure' pretty much summed it up, but Chloe wasn't afraid to find out.

"The way I figure it," Lana began softly, "is yeah, the world is sexist as hell. But sometimes that's not such a bad thing."

"Okayyy...Feel free to expound, Ms. Steinem," Chloe laughed. She bent her other arm at the elbow and rested her head on her palm.

"If someone walked in right now and saw us laying here, it wouldn't seem weird at all. But if Clark's dad found him and Pete doing this - I mean, can you imagine?"

"No," Chloe said. "And I'd rather not. You still haven't sold me on the pros of the patriarchy, though."

Lana's eyes fluttered down, focusing on a blue-checked square on Chloe's bedspread. To Chloe, her eyes looked closed, her thick black lashes splayed against the smooth, olive skin below them. Chloe wanted to lick her eyelids.

"I'm going to sleep in your bed tonight and nobody's going to think twice about it," Lana began confidently. "Chloe, we have so much freedom. We can do this all night if we want to. I can hug you at school, I can hold your hand in public, I can even kiss you -"

"You... want to kiss me?" Chloe bit her lip and held her breath.

Yes, of course she'd thought about it, rationalized it a hundred different ways, from 'we're just friends and sometimes friends kiss' to 'what did Whitney feel when got her all alone?' A kiss. She'd had many, more than some, and still felt so nave. Like this first was scarier and more exciting than any of her others, like she really knew the meaning of virgin, and she surprised herself with her utter lack of cynicism.

"Is that okay?" Lana's eyes shone in the 40-watt light, her smile the perfect combination of anticipation and adventure.

Not breaking eye contact, Chloe nodded.

Lana propped her head on her hand and inched closer to Chloe. She licked her lips, closed her eyes and pressed her mouth to Chloe's.

Chloe sighed and grazed Lana's cheek with the back of her hand. Her eyes fluttered open to catch Lana's fixed stare.

"Soft," Chloe giggled.

And she realized, with a quick rush of white noise to her ears, that she had never, for a second, felt cynical about Lana.

Lana raised her eyebrows twice. "You wanna do it again?"

This time, Chloe moved in for the kiss. She cupped Lana's cheek in her palm, rubbing her thumb over the cheekbone as Lana lightly teased at Chloe's lips with the tip of her tongue. This kiss deepened; without thinking about it, Chloe opened her mouth and let Lana's tongue inside, tracing circles around it with her own tongue. She kissed Lana harder, exploring the mouth so similar to her own with a confident tongue and aggressive, wet lips.

Chloe moved her hand down to Lana's chest, tracing a finger along the neckline of her t-shirt. Lana clutched Chloe's hand in her own and moved it down to her breast. Chloe gasped; Lana pressed her hand harder. She pulled away just as Chloe tried to roll her onto her back.

"Not - " breathlessly, "not yet."

"What? I don't -" Chloe stammered, confused.

"We've got all night, girl." Lana smiled and pulled Chloe's hand away from her chest, enclosing it in both of hers. "Let's take our time and find some more trouble to make."

"'kay," Chloe agreed.

She met Lana's smile with a brilliant one of her own and they lay there, side by side on the bed, hands tangled together and smiles all shades of evocative, mysterious, secretive and silly until "Holiday" started over again.

"See? Did you hear that?" Lana asked, pressing the rewind button on Chloe's car stereo. "Listen - 'I wanna go south and get me some more'," Lana repeated.

Shaking off the worry that Lana was wearing her favorite mixed tape down to shreds, Chloe divided her attention between the road and Cyndi Lauper.

"This song is totally about jerking off!" Lana shrieked. "I saw it on 'Behind the Music'. Apparently nobody got it when it first came out."

Chloe cocked her head, trying to process the fact that Lana had just referred to masturbation as 'jerking off'.

"'She bop, he bop, - a - we bop'," Lana sang along, bobbing her head to the music. "So, Chloe, how often do you bop?"

Chloe saw the brake lights of the car in front of her, knew she had to slow down, but Lana's question had thrown her off so much that she didn't actually move her foot to the pedal until too late. The brakes squealed; Chloe barely missed rear-ending the Taurus at the stoplight.

Cursing under her breath, Chloe turned to meet Lana's sheepish grin.

"Sorry," Chloe apologized. "Okay - um -" she pressed her fingers to her forehead. "What?"

"You heard me," Lana said. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me. I was just wondering cause, like, I'd be kind of worried if you didn't. We'd have to do something about that."

Alright. Okay. Chloe could do this, she could tell things to Lana that she hadn't even admitted to herself, not really. Things she forgot about as soon as they were over, things she had desperately wanted to share with Clark only a year ago but was scared to death to even practice the confession in her head. To even say it out loud, afraid to make any noise at all.

"I started doing it hardcore when Whitney and I started dating," Lana said. "I wanted to make sure I knew what I liked before we started having sex, you know, so I knew what I needed to come."

"Really? Um - that's...cool." Chloe turned left onto Main, heading back downtown. "I guess I don't really - I mean, I do, but like, I'm not very..." Chloe trailed off.

"Let me guess," Lana interjected. "When you do it, you make sure no one's home and then you shut yourself in your room and do it as fast as you can, and then you wash your hands and start on your homework."

"Well, I guess - yeah, sometimes," Chloe stammered.

"I used to be like you," Lana sighed dramatically, reassuring Chloe with a sympathetic grin. "And then I got a vibrator."

Chloe's hands jerked on the steering wheel, overcorrecting a turn and nearly plunging them into the oncoming lane of traffic.

"You got a - where?"

"You know that store in the mall that sells blacklights and birthday cards with naked women and stuff?"

"Oh my god, they sell vibrators?"

"Well, they don't call them vibrators, I think they're like, 'personal massagers' or something. But they're shaped like dicks and they vibrate, so what else are you supposed to do with them? Seriously, you should get one."

Chloe shook her head in disbelief. Lana. Sex toys. It was too surreal and all Chloe could think of was 'Clark would be so fucking jealous...'

"Hey!" Lana exclaimed. "There's Pete's car, let's see what they're up to."

Chloe followed Pete into the Shell station parking lot and pulled up beside him.

"Hello, ladies," he said, rolling down his window. "What's goin' on?"

"Nothing," Lana answered. "We're just driving around. What are you guys doing?"

"Same thing," Pete grinned. "There's a party at Sorensen's, we might go check it out."

Chloe could see Clark's face twist in disapproval from the other side of the car. Clearly, the party was Pete's idea.

"His parents out of town?" Lana asked.

"Yeah, I heard his brother got a keg for him."

"No shit?" Lana raised her eyebrows.

"That's what Kendall said," Pete shrugged.

"Hey Lana, sorry we didn't stop by the Talon," Clark piped up. "We were just, um. We were shooting hoops and kinda lost track of time."

"That's okay, Clark," Lana smiled at him. "I'd planned to hook up with Chloe anyway."

"Oh, well," Clark said. "Guess it worked out okay."

"Yeah, I guess so." Lana looked at Chloe, her crooked smile and deep, shining eyes assuring her of much more than 'okay'.

"Hey, you wanna come over to my place?" Pete asked. "We haven't put the trampoline away yet."

"Yeah, and it's so much more fun when you can't see who you're crashing into," Clark quipped.

"Um..." Lana turned to Chloe quickly. Chloe shook her head. Lana smiled again and turned back to Pete. "Thanks, but we're kinda having a 'No Boys Allowed' night. You know, hair, make-up, fashion magazines."

"You sure?" Pete asked.

"Yes," Chloe said. "We're sure."

"Okay well, you girls have fun," Pete said. "We'll see ya around."

"Bye guys," Lana said.

"Bye Lana," Clark smiled stupidly. "Hey Chloe, I gotta call you tomorrow about that biology field project thing."

"Sure," Chloe waved. "Later guys."

"Thank god," Lana breathed, rolling up her window. She smiled and waved again as Pete and Clark drove off before turning back to Chloe. "I thought we were going to get stuck hanging out with them."

Chloe started the ignition, wondering where Lana would lead them next.

"Did you want to go to Sorensen's party?" Lana asked.

Chloe just stared at her with her best 'surely you jest' face.

"Okay," Lana laughed. "Then what?"

"I don't know," Chloe said, unsure where the suggestive, sexy tone came from. She hadn't tried to sound so eager.

"You think your dad's asleep yet?" Lana scooted over on the seat, opening her legs so her thigh touched Chloe's.

Chloe checked her watch. Chloe wasn't wearing a watch.

"Probably," she said. "Why?"

"I don't know," Lana said, mocking Chloe's faux-innocence from before.

"Hair? Make-up? Fashion magazines?" Chloe pulled out of the gas station and turned in the direction of her neighborhood.

"Yeah, why don't we just let those boys keep thinking that."

Lana moved closer to Chloe, nonchalantly resting her palm on the inside of her thigh.

Determined, resilient, the picture of composure, Chloe kept her hands at ten and two, maintained a steady 28 miles per hour and paid close attention to the road in front of her. The hand on her thigh crept higher. She gripped the steering wheel harder.

"By the way," Lana whispered as they turned onto Chloe's street. "I've been wet since you felt me up an hour and a half ago."

At least the car Chloe almost sideswiped was Lana's.

While Lana washed her face and brushed her teeth, Chloe ransacked her dresser, trying to find something remotely sexy to sleep in. She'd given Lana a pair of green hospital scrubs and a white 1992 Metropolis 10K t-shirt, the letters faded and peeling, which Lana, of course, looked stunning in. Settling on a gray muscle tee she'd shrunk in the wash and a pair of blue plaid boxer shorts, Chloe faced her closet door mirror. She turned around a couple of times, examining herself from front and side, listening for Lana's light footsteps as she padded down the hall. Chloe checked the mirror one last time, rolled the waistband of the boxers down once and pulled the covers down on the bed as Lana entered the room.

"I love your face wash," Lana said, rubbing her cheeks with her palms. "It makes my face feel all tingly."

"Yeah, it's uh -" Chloe shifted awkwardly on the side of the bed. "It's a great product."

'A great product?' Why the hell was she so nervous? It was Lana - her friend. The girl she went shopping with, the girl she gossiped and laughed over coffee with. They'd already kissed and there was no question about what was going to happen next. It was getting there that unnerved Chloe.

Lana, however, seemed completely at ease. She went to Chloe's stereo and flipped through a book of CDs. She selected one, placed it in the changer and pressed 'play'. Radiohead filled the room. Lana adjusted the volume low and snatched a book of matches from Chloe's dresser, lighting the few odd candles decorating various surfaces in the room.

Chloe waited on the bed, her legs crossed and a pillow on her lap. Lana stood by the light switch and surveyed the room before flipping it off. Chloe watched as the dark shape of her emerged from the shadow of the doorway into the flickering candlelight. She knew, at that moment, that the image of Lana walking slowly toward her bed in the half-light would haunt her for years to come, invading her dreams like the monsters left over from her childhood.

Only this wasn't scary at all.

This was sexy and exciting and liberating and intense; it was right, because they wanted it, definitions long gone and forgotten. Nothing mattered. It was the most selfish Chloe had ever felt in her life. She loved it.

"Hi," Lana whispered, easing herself onto the bed, facing Chloe.

"Hi."

"God, Chloe..." Lana touched her face, tracing fingertips down her cheek and around her mouth. "You're so beautiful."

"Me?" Chloe smiled, looked down at her lap, embarrassed. "I don't - Lana, you..." she laughed and looked back up at Lana, suddenly serious. "I am, huh?"

"Yeah," Lana nodded, smiling back at her. "You are. I want to kiss you."

Chloe said nothing, just leaned in as Lana's lips again found her own, as mouths opened and tongues danced around each other, as eyes fluttered shut and they fell back on the bed. Nestled between Chloe's legs, Lana wrapped her arm behind Chloe's neck and moved down to kiss her throat, down her chest as far as the neck of her t-shirt would stretch.

"Chloe," she mumbled between kisses. "Can I take off your shirt?"

Chloe sat up and quickly peeled off her top. Lana paused, gazing at Chloe's breasts, mouth open, eyes full of lust. Chloe looked down at herself and then at Lana, searching her eyes for protest as she took the hem of Lana's t-shirt in her hands and pulled it over her head.

"Wow," Chloe breathed, staring at Lana's skin, smooth and darker than her own. Her breasts were small, firm circles, nipples a shade darker than her skin. Chloe reached out; Lana nodded, watching as Chloe's shy hands rested on her chest before sliding down to her breasts. She moaned, letting her head fall back as Chloe circled her nipples with her index fingers.

"Yes," Lana murmured, covering Chloe's hands with her own. "Can I touch you?"

Chloe smiled, nodded, and Lana grazed her hands across Chloe's pale, soft breasts. They sat there for a moment, touching each other and exchanging dazed smiles before Lana pushed Chloe back down on the bed, working a thigh between her legs.

"Yeah...god," Chloe breathed, grinding herself against Lana's hip as she pressed a hand to Lana's back, pulling her down harder. Lana kissed Chloe again, this time deeper, aggressively pushing her tongue inside and playfully biting her lips. She moved down, licking a circle around one of Chloe's nipples and pinching the other between her fingers.

"Oh fuck -" Chloe thrashed on the bed, bucking her hips upward. Lana bit her lightly, trying to calm her down.

"Shhh..." she whispered. "You like that?"

Eyes desperate, mouth slack, Chloe nodded and whimpered for more.

Lana moved to the other nipple, licking and sucking, biting hard enough to make Chloe moan again before slipping her hand down the front of Chloe's shorts.

"No underwear?" Lana asked, surprised.

Chloe giggled.

"Slut," Lana teased.

She moved her hand down farther, sucking in her breath as she touched Chloe.

"Oh my god," she whispered. "You're so wet." Lana dipped two fingers just barely inside Chloe and spread the slickness around her lips and up to her clit.

"Lana..." Chloe murmured, leaning into her touch. "Are you -"

"You want to feel how wet I am for you?"

"Yeah," Chloe breathed.

Lana leaned back and slipped out of her scrubs and then eased Chloe out of her shorts. Completely naked, Chloe on her back and Lana at her side. Chloe had never been naked with anyone before.

"Here." Lana took Chloe's hand and led it to her crotch, spreading her legs a little. "Feel me."

Chloe's fingers explored the soft, wet skin, so similar and so different from touching herself. She thought of what she liked and began stroking Lana in a circular motion, moving up onto her side so they could be closer.

"Fuck me," Lana whispered, moving her hand back to touch Chloe. "Your fingers."

Chloe didn't know what the hell she was doing. She'd fingered herself before, but never very deep and the angle was all different. She readjusted her hand so her palm faced up and -

"Yeah," Lana moaned. "Oh fuck yeah..."

She must have done it right. She alternated fingering Lana and stroking her clit as Lana did the same to her, rocking against each other, mouths open and exhaling breathless sighs and quiet moans.

"Wait," Lana stopped Chloe's hand. "Wait. I want to taste you."

Chloe laid down on her back and spread her legs wide as Lana moved down the bed. This was a real first, one she'd only thought about really late at night, and rarely at that. This was what she thought she'd do only with the guy she was going to marry, because it seemed so much more intimate and vulnerable than sex. To let herself be pleasured like this - it took a lot more confidence than she thought she had and she wasn't even sure what she was supposed to feel and then Lana's tongue was on her clit, licking patterns and constellations, and she might have forgotten her name if Lana hadn't whispered it against her hot, wet skin.

Lana's tongue, shapeless and fluid, driving her beyond limits she never thought she'd reach and coming back only to open her eyes and look down at the dark head between her legs every few seconds. Licking, flickering and Chloe knew she could come if Lana asked her to and that the orgasm would be like none she'd ever known. And beneath that, a desire to make Lana feel as good as she felt, a need to do everything and more, to prove that she wasn't just letting this happen, that she was making it happen, that she wanted it as much as Lana did.

"Lana," Chloe touched her fingers to her lips. "Come up here. I want to do this to you."

"You sure?" Lana's voice low and liquid, her smile warm and inviting.

"Yeah," Chloe whispered. "I want to make you come."

Lana crawled up toward Chloe and lay down on her back. She placed her hand on Chloe's head, gently guiding her.

"You're sure," she asked again.

Chloe just smiled and opened her mouth to an entirely new taste.

Not completely alien, she'd tasted her own fingers a couple times. Lana was sweet, kind of tangy, like pina colada lip balm. Chloe began flicking her tongue back and forth, up and down, making it up as she went along and taking cues from the pattern of Lana's breaths. Lana moved her hand down and spread her lips open with her fingers, fully exposing her clit, and Chloe focused on the swollen bump, eliciting louder sighs and pleas from Lana. She licked faster and reached up to touch Lana's breast. Lana caught her hand and squeezed, bringing it up to her mouth to suck on Chloe's fingers.

"Stop, wait," Lana moaned. "Fuck Chloe, I'm gonna come."

Lana pulled Chloe up to lie on top of her, grinding against her thigh.

"What do you want, Lana?" Chloe whispered. "I'll do whatever want."

"Stay here," Lana wrapped her arm around Chloe's back. "Touch my clit."

Chloe began stroking Lana fast and hard, the way she liked it when she was about to come. Lana arched up into her touch, begging 'faster, harder, more' and draping her leg across Chloe's back. Her forearm burning, Chloe kept going, until Lana's voice became high and breathless, announcing she was close, almost there, no turning back.

"I'm coming," she rasped. "Chloe I'm coming!"

Lana rode out the waves of her orgasm against Chloe's warm body, rocking her hips to the rhythm of the pulses. When they'd slowed down (but not stopped), Lana flipped open her eyes and looked up at Chloe.

"You."

She rolled Chloe over and moved back down between her legs, licking feverishly and thrusting two fingers in and out of Chloe.

"You want to come?" Lana whispered. "Tell me what to do."

"Just...just..." Chloe moved her hand down to Lana's head and began moving her hips against Lana's mouth. "Just lick me. Like that, and..."

The orgasm started in her stomach and swelled through her entire body. Longer than any she'd ever had, and her breath felt ragged in her lungs and her eyes may have exploded and she was probably speaking in tongues or maybe she'd forgotten how to talk.

Gumby legs. Warm everywhere. One breath at a time, Chloe came down.

"Oh god," she muttered, rolling over to face Lana, lying on the pillow next to her. "Lana, I - I'm not sure where to begin."

"Shut up," Lana laughed.

"I can't!" Chloe whined. "That was - holy fuck."

"Yeah," Lana agreed. "I know." She draped her arm across Chloe's waist and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "I read somewhere that when women orgasm, their bodies release a chemical that makes them feel very connected to their partner, like on a really profound level."

"Really?" Chloe asked.

"Mmhm," Lana sighed. "But not men."

"I can see that," Chloe said. "I mean, about the chemical."

"Yeah?" Lana asked. "Are you feeling all high on our deep, profound connection?"

Chloe smiled. "Kinda. Are you?"

Lana nodded and traced a fingertip along Chloe's eyebrow. "You know why else it's great to be a girl?"

"Why?"

"Cause we can say things to each other without it being all awkward."

"Like what?" Chloe asked, propping her head up on her palm.

"Like I love you." Lana leaned in a pecked Chloe on the lips.

Chloe smiled. She reached for Lana's hand on the pillow and squeezed it gently.

"I love you, Lana."

"I'm glad we don't let boys come between us anymore," Lana said softly.

Chloe couldn't help but laugh. She flopped down on the bed, trying and failing several times to regain her composure.

"What?" Lana asked.

"No, it's just -" Chloe laughed. "That's the line of the night. I'm writing it down."

"It wasn't supposed to be funny," Lana lightly socked Chloe in the shoulder.

"And that's why it is," Chloe reasoned. "Get it? I mean, it works on so many levels."

"I can't wait to hear you explain it to Clark and Pete."

Lana got out of bed to find her pajamas. She tossed Chloe's inside-out shorts and shirt on her chest.

"Oh, you think they'd get it even then?" Chloe snickered.

"Get dressed." Lana poked her in the ribs and crawled under the covers. "Sleeping together in jammies: A-Okay. Sleeping together naked: a little suspicious."

"Yeah, okay." Chloe pulled on her pajamas. "I'm totally not tired anymore. Let's watch a movie or something."

"Sleep," Lana insisted. "It's after one. And we're going to the mall tomorrow."

"We were just there Wednesday, what do you have to get now?" Chloe made sure to turn off the alarm on her clock radio.

"You, honey. We're getting a present for you."

"At the mall? I don't need anything from -"

"Personal massager," Lana mumbled.

"Oh."

Right. That.

--end--